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John Williams's Dracula - Vinyl fan-made restoration project


Bespin

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Recently a member of this forum sayed what I suspected, that the sound quality of the original vinyl of Dracula is far superior than the sound of the 1990 CD reissue.

 

So I look for good WAV rips of a mint copy of this vinyl.

 

I will select the best tracks from each vinyls you'll sent me and digitally restore them.

 

Please message me in private I you wan to contribute!

 

As Dracula is always forgotten when it's the time to reissue John Williams albums (because the original tapes are known to be lost in time)... we'll manage it ourselves!

 

Dracula, we don't forget you!!!

 

Émanuel

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43 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

What will your "digital restoration" encompass?

 

I put the music at the good speed first, then I remove the clicks, then I remove the vinyl hiss (not to much), I isolate each track with a fade-in/Fade-out, etc. etc.

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5 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

I put the music at the good speed first, then I remove the clicks, then I remove the vinyl hiss (not to much), I isolate each track with a fade-in/Fade-out, etc. etc.

 

Which SW do you use?

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14 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Which SW do you use?

 

I'm not a professional, but My restorations are more than okay I would say, ask @Miguel Andrade, I did several for him.

 

I use the Nero Suite.

 

Here's my Restauration of "Montreal". The sound of this single was satured, so we can't make it better. But my restoration are no better no worse then the ones Fresh Sounds Records put on "Rhythm in Motion/So Nice!" in 2015 (Tuesday's Theme, The Black Knight, Augie's Great Piano)

 

 

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25 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

I'm not a professional, but My restorations are more than okay I would say, ask @Miguel Andrade, I did several for him.

 

I use the Nero Suite.

 

Would you be able to do something about the harsh hiss in this gem?

 

 

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I only work from raw WAV taken from the vinyl directly.

 

The hardest thing to remove is the hiss due to dirt and wear-and-tear (shhhhh-shhhhhh-shhhhhh).  So it's always better to wash your vinyl before ripping them, generally it will eemove statics too.

 

Don't ever wash them with ordinary water, there's a receipe to make a washing solution!  And generally not to be used on very very old vinyls, or even 78 RPM.

 

Vinyl restoration is a science.

 

Here's a demo I made of a before/after restoration.

 

 

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I have WAV sources I 've made from my LP (several recordings of it).

With a liquid solution on the vinyl (less static and dirt).

 

If you are interested just tell me.

 

 

 

May be someone else will have the same with a better LP player.

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We can make several tests with different rips coming from different people. That's the goal of this exercice.

 

Thanks!

 

Important things:

 

1) Don't separate the tracks!  Make one file for each face.

2) Leave some noise from the beginning of a face!!!

3) Don't record too loud, to avoid clipping (not too lower too!)... if the WAV form is not at my taste, I will not restore it.

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12 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I only work from raw WAV taken from the vinyl directly.

 

I can give you a raw WAV of the live recording of Sing, Sing, Sing, if you think you'd be able to improve it. :)

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3 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

I can give you a raw WAV of the live recording of Sing, Sing, Sing, if you think you'd be able to improve it. :)

 

What are you talking about? Your Benny Goodman LP?

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2 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Why would Bes care about that? Will you pay him?

 

Only JW and Aznavour projects are free!

 

True, Roy Orbison too.  For money related business, you can call my agent @Stefancos

 

Thanks!

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40 minutes ago, Bespin said:

 

What are you talking about? Your Benny Goodman LP?

 

My Benny Goodman CD, released by Sony with very little post-processing after they transferred the LP. :)

 

I'm just curious about how good you'd be able to make it sound.

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9 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

My Benny Goodman CD, released by Sony with very little post-processing after they transferred the LP. :)

 

I'm just curious about how good you'd be able to make it sound.

 

You can send me a wav track for the fun, but it has chances that it has already been restored.

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Bespin,

So, you will receive a link with my WAVE sources (Four differents LP rip) in few hours.

But even if  I've washed the vinyl, I don't have a professional LP player.

So maybe someone else will have better ones.

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1 minute ago, aescalle said:

Bespin,

So, you will receive a link with my WAVE sources (Four differents LP rip) in few hours.

But even if  I've washed the vinyl, I don't have a professional LP player.

So maybe someone else will have better ones.

 

Thanks, I will say to you if you RIPs are good enough for a restoration.

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9 hours ago, aescalle said:

Bespin,

So, you will receive a link with my WAVE sources (Four differents LP rip) in few hours.

But even if  I've washed the vinyl, I don't have a professional LP player.

So maybe someone else will have better ones.

 

Sorry, your copy is too damaged, too much noise.

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8 hours ago, Bespin said:

 

Sorry, your copy is too damaged, too much noise.

Yes, I was waiting for this sad new! 😢

 

Hope you will find other rips...

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I don't work from Youtube videos hehe.

 

I Hope someone else will come forward and send me a good WAV rip of this LP. The sounds seems really better than the old 1990 CD in the louder parts.

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21 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I don't work from Youtube videos hehe.

 

I Hope someone else will come forward and send me a good WAV rip of this LP. The sounds seems really better than the old 1990 CD in the louder parts.

HAHAHAH I know, it was just for the fun!

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12 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I Hope someone else will come forward and send me a good WAV rip of this LP. The sounds seems really better than the old 1990 CD in the louder parts.

 

It's the saturated sound which makes it so menacing!

 

:lol:

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38 minutes ago, Bespin said:

I'll make it clear.

 

I don't make any money with all this... All I do with money, regarding my passions, is losing it!

 

Seriously, Bes, if it's proven that there is an improvement in sound quality, I'd buy it from you.

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Someone from another forum just sent me a very "quiet" UK pressing, that I'm currently restoring.

 

NOW THAT'S F****** DRACULA!

 

MOUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

 

😈

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It definitely sounds better than the 1990 Varese Sarabande CD.

 

So at least, they should reissue a new CD remastered from the vinyl.

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2 hours ago, Bespin said:

Someone from another forum just sent me a very "quiet" UK pressing, that I'm currently restoring.

 

NOW THAT'S F****** DRACULA!

 

MOUHAHAHAHAHAH!!!

 

😈

YOOOOU YEEEEHHHH!

5241346935_d50fdf856b_b.jpg

5241942502_f4b8c9e737_b.jpg

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I always loved reading that note from John Badham on the back of the LP. JW just writing the score and sending cues off to the orchestrator and copyists before even playing him a note for weeks.  Talk about confidence!

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Amazing, Bespin! That is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. I know they’re probably holding out for better elements for a complete score, but they simply should have released an album remaster in the meantime. It’s like hearing the score for the first time. 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This morning I thought the Dracula CD was not exactly at the right speed. But hearing it again and comparing with other sources, I think it's okay.

 

So my restoration is good too.

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